🌷 Sunday Snippets: December 29th, 2024

Including a poem for presence...

Hi all,

Here are the latest Stoic snippets for you to enjoy this Sunday!

Wishing you a great week ahead,
Allan

---

📌 Stoic Reminder

🙏 A Poem For Presence

Stoicism places significant emphasis on focusing on the present moment, lest we be consumed by our ruminations on the past and anxieties about the future.

As Marcus Aurelius put it: “Remind yourself that neither the future nor the past can weigh on you, but only the present, and that the present becomes easier to bear if you take it on its own.”

In that spirit, here is a reminder to be present today, in the form of John Dryden’s poem, Happy the Man:

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

📺 Film Recommendation

Perfect Days - Continuing the theme of presence, this 2023 Wim Wenders film is another great reminder to make the most of each moment.

The slow pacing of the film and presentation of the main character Hirayama’s meticulous daily routine make the experience of watching it a calming one, almost Zen-like.

One of the most revealing insights into Hirayama’s state of mind is an interaction he has with his young niece, Niko. (​The YouTube clip can be found here​) As they stand watching a flowing river, Niko asks if he wants to go to the spot where it meets the ocean.

“Next time,” replies Hirayama. To which Niko asks: “And when’s that exactly?”

“Next time is next time, now is now,” comes the answer.

---

🌷 What paid subscribers received this week

5 new Monday to Friday Micro Morning Meditations, including this one:

If you’d like to start receiving daily Micro Morning Meditations (and gain access to the past archive of 500+ editions), you can become a paid subscriber here.

---

🗓 Upcoming Event

Beyond Stoicism - This online event from

Classical Wisdom

takes place on January 7th at noon EST and features a great line-up of speakers. You can register to attend at the link above.

From the description:

Renowned Stoics and philosophers, Massimo Pigliucci, Donald Robertson and John Sellars, take the lessons of Stoicism... and beyond... to see how we can approach life’s difficulties and incorporate time-tested philosophies into our modern life.

📜 Quote For The Week Ahead

I pray that you may get such control over yourself that your mind, now shaken by wandering thoughts, may at last come to rest and be steadfast, that it may be content with itself and, having attained an understanding of what things are truly good, – and they are in our possession as soon as we have this knowledge, – that it may have no need of added years.

—Seneca, Letters 32.5